Danger lurks off the San Mateo Coast

Others call him The Landlord, or names like The Warden, Big Whitey, Ol' Toothy or just The Big Guy.

On a trip down the San Mateo County Coast this past weekend, I couldn't help but think it was likely a great white shark was lurking again along the inshore coast.

Elephant seals, both year-round tenants and newly arriving migrants, are taking up residence at Año Nuevo State Park south of Pigeon Point. That brings the big sharks in from thousands of miles away. The giant marine mammals can make for easy meals.

From attack position - below and behind its prey - Big Whitey looks up at the silhouette of a 15-foot elephant seal and a few million years of hard-wired attack-and-eat circuitry kicks in.

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Anything that looks like a marine mammal can be at risk. A sea kayaker, for instance. A surfer wearing a black wet suit. A stand-up paddle boarder. A scuba diver. A body surfer.

This past weekend, the viewing conditions along Highway 1, the beaches and the bluff lookouts were stellar: 65 degrees, blue skies and a calm sea that shimmered from refracted light in the afternoon.

It seemed perfect for a sea kayak trip. But the one thing that scares me is Big Whitey coming up and taking a bite.

At Bean Hollow south of Pescadero, great white sharks have bitten kayaks twice in the past five years. A little over a year ago, in a verified but largely unreported incident, Ol' Toothy chomped a kayak out of Santa Cruz.

In the past five years, great white sharks have been sighted along Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Pacifica State Beach at Linda Mar in Pacifica and the southern end of Montara State Beach, along with many sightings in the vicinity of Año Nuevo.

Año Nuevo, of course, provides habitat for the largest mainland colony of elephant seals anywhere. Their numbers peak in winter.

The sharks are going to be out there. The question is: In a kayak, how do you keep them from biting you?